The benefits of regular aerobic exercise have been well established and accepted. However, due to time constraints, inclement weather, and other reasons, many people are prevented from aerobic activities such as walking, jogging, running, and swimming. As a result, a variety of exercise equipment has been developed for aerobic activity.
From their humble beginnings as free weights and bicycles mounted on wooden platforms, exercise equipment such as stationary bicycles, elliptical exercise equipment, stair climbers, and the like have grown increasingly sophisticated. However, the very advantage of the exercise equipment described above—the ability to use such equipment conveniently, in a relatively confined space, and in inclement weather—results in exercise devices that can be relatively monotonous to use for some users.
It is well known that the more stimulating and enjoyable the experience of exercising is to a user, the longer and more frequently that user will exercise. Unfortunately, many users find spending long hours doing repetitive forms of stationary exercise hard work and boring, sometimes so much so that the exercise equipment is abandoned in favor of something more entertaining.
Accordingly, many exercise equipment users and exercise equipment design allow for the user to vary his or her motion during use. Treadmills, for example, enable a user to vary his or her pace or stride from a walk, to a jog or to a sprint. Many steppers and elliptical exercise machines enable a user to vary his or her stride length or stride angle to achieve different motions. Still other exercise devices enable a user to select from or two or more different exercise paths during use. The flexibility of such exercise devices provides a user with a broader range of available exercise routines or motions making the exercise machines more enjoyable to use in a repetitive manner. Such workout flexibility provides a user the ability to exercise different or more muscle groups.
Additionally, exercise equipment users are often increasingly more interested in monitoring their workout on exercise equipment, including monitoring such parameters as speed, distance, heart rate, resistance, calories burned, and other available parameters. However, in many existing exercise devices, communicating such information to users requires the user to manipulate numerous controls or to navigate many display screens or windows in order to access desired workout information.
Thus, a continuing need exists for a display for exercise equipment that provides additional information to the user. Additionally, there is a continuing need for improved displays that are specifically configured for exercise devices with multiple exercise positions, paths, motions, stride lengths and/or stride angles. What is needed is a type of display that can communicate a user's current path, stride length, motion etc. on an exercise device in a manner that is immediate, user-friendly and effective. It is desirable to provide such an improved display for exercise equipment that makes exercise more enjoyable for the user and improves the feedback of the user's motion, path or stride to the user.